Childless Men Suffer Depression

Althoughrecentresearch has discoveredmenwant children just as much as women, whenthisdoes not happen,theyfeeltheloss of children very differently.

Researcher Robin Hadley examined two groups of men and women: one with children and one without.Here is whathefound:

·While women indicated they felt guiltywhentheydid not have a child, the men surveyed said they felt sadness and jealousy at not becoming a father.

·Around 50 per cent of men indicated they felt isolated without children compared to only 25 per cent of women.

·Four out of 10 men who did not have children said they felt depressed whereas only three out of 10 childless women indicated they experienced depression.

Mr Hadley said: “My workshowsthat there was a similar level of desireforparenthood among childless menandwomen in thesurveyandthatmenhadhigher levels of anger, depression, sadness, jealousyandisolation than womenandsimilarlevel of yearning.

“This challengesthecommonideathatwomen are muchmorelikely to want to have children than menandthatthey consistently experience a range of negativeemotionsmoredeeply than meniftheydon’thave children.”

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